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Reading

The overarching aim for English in the National Curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment and purpose.  The effectiveness of English teaching determines the success of the whole curriculum.

 

Our Intent for Reading

At Longcot and Fernham CE Primary School, we know that reading is the single most significant indicator of a child’s future success across the whole curriculum, and we believe that allowing every child to become a reader is the most important thing we can do for them academically. We also know that reading is good for broader healthy development; in building focus and attention, supporting good mental wellbeing and developing empathetic and socially aware young people. As a result, we commit to leaving nothing to chance with reading; starting strong with rigorous phonics, giving every child support to keep up, prioritising reading every single day, and consistently promoting a culture of reading for pleasure. Our school values of Love, Honesty and Respect are embedded throughout the curriculum and play a significant role within reading lessons.  

 

Our Implementation of the Reading Curriculum

 

From Nursery onwards, we use Read, Write, Inc. Phonics to give children the best start in learning to decode, using phonic knowledge. You can see more information and support for this on our Phonics page. Read, Write, Inc. includes a daily reading lesson using matched reading books which allow children to experience success by reading words containing the sounds they have learned and offers a daily chance to practice blending and building speedy word recognition. Where children find early reading harder, we support them with additional tutoring and additional exposure to the sounds (via Pinny Time and Speed Minutes). Children take books home to read as soon as Read, Write, Inc. assessments indicate that they are ready to do so and experience some success. Once they have completed Read, Write, Inc. Grey level reading, they transfer to book banded books during year 2 (and beyond Y2 if staff assess that they need their texts to continue to be guided), before making use of our library and class book areas to explore reading from all text types, genres and themes.

 

Alongside phonics and early reading, children in lower school also have a book spine which supports them in developing a love of reading and being read to. This is designed to be diverse and expose children to a range of authors, genres and themes.  

In Upper School, reading is taught daily during a dedicated and protected reading lesson where all children, regardless of current attainment, share the same text across a term. We teach using whole texts, rather than extracts for the most part as this allows children to immerse themselves in a text and changes attitudes to reading in a positive way. 80% of these lessons are spent on reading the text as a class, with considerable time spent hearing the teacher read aloud as a consistent model for fluency and prosody. Children also read aloud and rehearse sections of text to build fluency and confidence in reading. During reading time, book talk is used to ensure children develop comprehension and we use some written comprehension activities as the term progresses to ensure children are familiar with how to record their thinking about the text. 

 

  

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